9. The Cigarette Lighter
The man in the fancy room said: “What do you think, shall we try one more time?”
He looked first at the large desk where he saw a few things that had come from his boy’s pocket. He said: “What have you done with him?”
“We’ve done nothing with him.”
The man stood up. “We wanted to hear your story first, and if that’s satisfactory …”
“Didn’t he say anything?”
It wasn’t his custom to interrupt.
The man said: “We haven’t asked him anything yet.”
“Why not?”
“He’s young. We’d rather talk with people who have more of a sense of responsibility. Such young fellows don’t even know what it’s all about, so we protect them as long as possible.”
Fear took hold of him again. Something’s wrong, they’re trying to trap me, he thought to himself. But he said: “I must talk to him first.”
“That’s odd. You’ve always let him be, and now all of a sudden you need to talk to him.”
“That’s just it. He goes his own way, he doesn’t tell me anything. That’s why I have to ask him first and then I’ll let you know.”
“I can’t allow that.”
“Why not?”
The man came out from behind his desk and started pacing the floor. He laughed softly and said: “I’ve never experienced anything this crazy. You’re reversing the roles, you’re interrogating me.”
He stopped and folded his hands behind his back. “But I can take it from you, isn’t that something? I have a weakness for you, that must be it. Just the same, I’m in charge here and I can’t allow two suspects to confer together on what their explanation is going to be; that would certainly be unique in investigative practice.”
The man had to laugh about it himself.
“But if he was with the others, at that incident last night …”
“He was with them. Otherwise we wouldn’t have caught him, right?”
“I don’t know about that. It happened on the lake, I understand, and he often pokes around there. He’s fishing on my license, and at this time of year he often poaches. That’s not legal, of course, but …”
“Our people do not pick up people for poaching. When we pick up people, it’s for other reasons.”
“He could’ve just happened to roam around there.”
“You know better.”
“No, I don’t, and that’s why I need to talk to him.”
“He was caught with the weapons in his hands.”
He tried to imagine it, but since he had seen that tobacco case and the other things, he felt a bit confused. He said: “It looks strange to me.”
Then he remembered something. “We have an old shotgun, it was my dad’s, and he sometimes takes off with that. We don’t have a permit for it, but …”
“It wasn’t a shotgun but an English stengun, an automatic pistol.”
He knew at once that the man was trying to pull a fast one on him. “I wouldn’t know what the boy would want a thing like that for. You can’t shoot game with something like that, I know that much. What do you want to do with that kind of gun on the lake?”
“You tell me.”
He was going to lose this one, so he didn’t say any more.
“Your son and several of his cohorts were caught red-handed with the weapons.”
“He’s not that dumb. Did they shoot with them?”
“They resisted arrest.”
He couldn’t believe it. He was sure the man was still trying to trick him. “You always lose when you do that.”
“You’re right about that.”
“It’s impossible.”
He tried to dismiss it, but he was afraid that it was possible. “I did see the water police this spring mess around with containers that had been dropped from airplanes during the night. At least that’s what they said.”
“Exactly, and those containers had weapons in them, which you know very well.”
“I didn’t know that, but the police did search my boat.”
“And never found anything, of course.”
“What would I do with that junk. If I had found some, I would’ve left them there. Now if it was a good trap …”
He got himself pretty well under control again. He didn’t know what had happened, but he had a notion that it was different from what the man tried to tell him.
“My boy is not so crazy that he would take on the police and the Germans over a couple of containers full of weapons.”
“It wasn’t about weapons this time, but about people. Important people who at all costs were not supposed to fall into our hands. But you know nothing about that, right?”
“No, I know nothing about that. What do you mean, about people?”
“You never noticed that yesterday a group of people in a big scow were drifting around on your side of the lake? They spent the whole day there, you know.”
“There are plenty of places to hide, so if those people didn’t want to be seen, it would be very simple to just pull into the reeds a while when they saw me coming.”
“You didn’t know either, of course, that day before yesterday three of those persons were in town several times. Everybody saw them and talked about it, but you didn’t know it.”
“I already told you that I seldom go to town. I’m always home. I don’t need other people. What did those people want in town and on the lake?”
“You’re doing the questioning again, but go ahead. Those people were supposed to be picked up by an airplane during the night and taken to England. A group of people from around here were supposed to help them with that.”
“And you’re telling me that Germ was with them?”
“He was with them. And now it’s time to do business.”
“I’ve got to talk to him first.”
“That’s impossible, and now I’m going to tell you exactly how things stand. I want you to make a confession right now, otherwise we’ll have to take care of your boy. That means that you likely will not see him again. Are you listening carefully? Then you will not see him again.”
“Why won’t I see him again?”
“For this sort of thing you get the death penalty, everybody knows that.”
“And he won’t get that if I tell you a thing or two?”
“That is to say, we can then take his age into account. Officially he deserves the death penalty because he was caught with the weapons on him, but you can save him. We’re allowed to do that in exceptional cases. We are more interested in the ringleaders, who while safe behind the scenes incite the people to terrorist activity, than in the fools who have to do the dirty work.”
He tried to maintain his composure and let the man’s words sink in. It was possible that Germ participated in such adventures.
He said: “I don’t know the people. If Germ was with them, he should know more about it. That’s why I have to talk to him first.”
At that moment he became unsure again. The boy’s tobacco case lay there, and his pocketknife and the lighter.
“I’ve gotta talk to him first, I wanta see him.”
The man did not answer. He took a cigarette and searched for a light. When he felt his pockets in vain, he took Germ’s lighter and tried to use it. The thing wouldn’t work, as usual. The man flicked it several times and inspected it. When he put it down, he took his handkerchief and wiped his hands.
He took a step forward and looked at the spot where the cigarette lighter had lain. A few drops of water had spattered on the desk. He took another step forward and took the tobacco case. He opened it; the tobacco was soaked.
The man said: “Leave it alone,” and got up.
He looked at the man. He looked him right in the eye, and then he understood.
He put the case down and at the same time grabbed the man by the chest with his free hand and jerked him halfway across the desk. Then with his other hand he grabbed him by the throat and squeezed hard.
When the soldier jumped him, he staggered backward. He now had both hands around the man’s throat and squeezed still harder. He still held the man in his grip when the soldier hit him over the head with the butt of his rifle.